Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philosophy

BamaMoon · Jan 3, 2014

I've been reading lots of calls for "change" on the board. Some are calling for wholesale changes on defense, offense and even some hinting that perhaps CNS is becoming outdated.

Before we go there, I'd propose we fix some other things first:

1. Get back to a power running game that sets up the play action pass. Three things will bring this about next year: a new, inexperienced qb, an improved OL, and Henry! Our redzone struggles can be directly attributed to the fact we didn't have the confidence to pick up 2-3 yards in critical situations.

2. Eliminate giving opposing teams points off of turnovers/mistakes. Last night we contributed to OU getting 35 points. 35!!! 28 on turnovers and we took 7 off the score board when we got a TD called back by penalty.

3. Get attitudes corrected. This team didn't totally buy in. It was a problem all year long. The suspensions, penalties, busted plays are proof.

4. Get back to capable defensive back play. Hopefully this gets better with some new recruits coming in, but getting VS back and our young guys learning from their mistakes this year will create much better play their next year. Our lack of pass rush (which is something I agree must be tweaked) only exposed this problem even more.

5. Get hungry again. This is related to #3, but now that guys have tasted what losing is like, perhaps the team will develop the hunger that drove the last 3 NC teams.

CNS preaches attention to detail and these are details that need addressing. If we win the last two games nobody is calling for "big" changes. Get the little things fixed and we are back to Bama football as we've known it under CNS!!!

rgw · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

One interesting thing is I think Saban is ahead of some of us calling for more athleticism. Tomlinson is close to that sort of DE I've been calling for to be used more in our defense. Pettway is another in that vein though he's a bigger now than out of high school. Hand is exactly what kind of DE/Jack we've been needing.

I've been saying that our recruiting the last few years indicates a desire to get more athleticism on the front and I wouldn't be surprised if we see some adjustments to let these guys flourish within their athletic capacity.

B1GTide · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

I really only see one consistent problem - 3rd down and long defensive strategy/execution.

KrAzY3 · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

I mentioned this a while ago (before the Auburn game I believe), but the one flaw I do see with Alabama's running back approach is there's no situational use really. They chose a back, and then they basically have the same type running plays they always do. That means they run Dee Hart about the same way they run Derrick Henry.

This also means that when it's a short yardage situation, we don't see Henry or Fowler with the ball, we just see who ever's turn it was in the rotation. I think you can go too far the other way, in which the Saints predictably use their RBs situationally (pass to this back, run with this back), but I'd like to see some variety applied to the approach.

If you just need one yard, may be the stronger guy stands a better chance of getting it. If your smaller back is in, may be call plays that use his speed. I think more could be done if Alabama plays a little more to the strengths of the backs they have.

alwayshavebeen · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

My take is that our "problems" this year were 90% personell/execution and maybe 10% scheme/philosophy.

bamapuppy · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

Coach Saban is right when he said that each person needs to do their job. If everybody does their job, then BAMA wins every time. The talent is there. The kids have the ability, or coach Saban would not have chosen them. Everyone has to buy into what coach Saban is teachng, and do their job.
I predict that coach Saban will remind them every day of the off season that they are not as good as the people on TV tell them. And, he will also reming them about the Sugar bowl, and burn it into them how that loosing feeling was.
I think that BAMA should be great in 2014. But, unbelievable in 2015. Coach is shoring up top recruits in key areas. BAMA should have a great run in 2014, and maybe even win it?? But, 2015 will be incredible. Just look at this recruiting class. Even better than last years. Just My Opinion.

Pluck and Grit · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

Most every problem we had this season was an outgrowth of one of three things:
1. A young secondary
2. A subpar DL relative to recent years
3. A subpar OL relative to recent years

#1 is going to take care of itself with time, practice, and coaching. If we don't improve in 2 and 3, then our recruiting rankings have been mistaken. We may have also had some motivation issues at times...... Even CPB was never able to fully defeat overconfidence in his teams. We didn't play with the kind of passionate fire that you've been seeing from teams like Michigan St and hate to say it, Auburn. I saw a whole lot of "I'm here because this is where coach told me to be on this play" and not always a lot of guys fired up who were getting after it. But I did see us play with passion against Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and LSU. After the LSU game, I didn't really see it anymore.

Back when we were 11-0 a few weeks ago, I didn't, and through the season had never, thought we were as good as the national media claimed us to be. The problems on the LOS were already pretty obvious, but somehow we kept winning. The secondary issues were rarely exposed as we didn't play a lot of great passing teams. Coincidentally, this was the senior year of probably Saban's worst recruiting class at UA.

It's a game of inches. Things are rarely as good as they seem and rarely as bad as they seem. After all that I've said above, we still just missed playing in the SECCG by a hair.

rgw · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

There has to be something to the fact that all these former DCs and HCs who coached under Saban rarely use the exact same front strategy implemented by Saban. They usually go away from 2-gapping DL and typically don't get as complicated with coverage variety. Muschamp took Saban's concepts with coverage and attacked more with his 4-down. Pruitt seems to be doing the same at FSU. Dantonio/Narduzzi have applied some of Saban's lessons learned by the fall of cover 3 in the NFL in the 90s to a cover-4 base that wide-9s a great deal at WDE.

It could be that they just can't sign Saban's level of personnel but some of it is a philosophical difference at a core level too.

cuda.1973 · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

B1GTide said:
I really only see one consistent problem - 3rd down and long defensive strategy/execution.

I would add inability to convert on 3rd and short. Fixing either could have gone a long way.

Not coughing the ball up, in the red zone, is the other big problem that should be easy to correct. None really require wholesale changes.

mittman · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

I personally do not want to change a thing. I believe our staff will be able to adjust better with less time for the faster paced schemes.

I am not panicking at all.

There were times last night that I was wishing we had Eryk Anders though.

grlindsey08 · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

BamaMoon said:
1. Get back to a POWER running game.

^THIS^ Unfortunely, I have zero confidence this will happen under our current OC. If the 2nd half against UGA last year didn't convince him this is what Bama does best, then I don't know what will.

JessN · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

1. Attitudes: This one is completely within Saban's control. If the players aren't buying in, cut them. The advent of APR has made this more difficult than it used to be but at some point you have to prioritize. Alabama has done such a good job with its academic program recently that it can afford some hit to APR total score, anyway. I realize UA likes to brag about where it places among SEC teams but APR doesn't win crystal trophies. There are guys who are on their sixth and seventh chances right now. That's probably too many.

2. Staff: I wasn't particularly impressed with Doug Nussmeier's playcalling this year but playcalling is hard to evaluate. For instance, Derrick Henry's last touchdown Thursday saved a terrible playcalling sequence for that drive. On top of that, Henry telegraphed the play by lining up almost 5 yards too far outside. He was fortunate the OU defender assigned to him was badly gassed and got himself out of position as well, plus the free safety lost inside contain. So you have a score, but it was sort of Keystone Kop-ish in the way it unfolded. By definition, the drive was successful, even though it was successful in spite of itself. For the season, Alabama completely ignored its TE/H combo, and was too predictable otherwise. This will have to change next year out of necessity, as there will be no NFL QB there to dig bad decisions out. There were also some issues at WR and DB and some staff changes wouldn't surprise me.

3. No sacred cows. The best way to make players accountable to themselves is yank them when they lose focus. Bryant made a career of it -- color-coordinating the depth chart in practice by jersey color, etc. Too many times this year I've seen the same handful of players make some kind of total bonehead play only to be trotted right back out there because their backup wasn't "in the plan" for the week. I hate to call someone out by name, but I think one particular OLB would have learned a lot simply by spending a quarter watching Tim Williams or Ryan Anderson run in his spot. And if Williams or Anderson screwed up, I (as coach) would have turned to my starter and told him, "Too bad you weren't in there, you would probably have made that play. So his mistake is essentially on your head as well."

4. Change in LB recruiting philosophy. The DL is already being diversified; guys like D.J. Pettway, Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson aren't the stereotypical hulks most 3-4 teams use. The problem is, the LB corps is pretty much one-note. The best LB Alabama has, Mosley, is the physical outlier. Guys like Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams are better suited to DE. Reggie Ragland will play a big role next year but both he and DePriest are huge. So is Reuben Foster but Foster has better lateral mobility. Oddly enough I think the new model is -- on the top end -- a guy like Dillon Lee. There will always be a spot for the big MLB who can stick his nose in the pile, but if tempo offenses are allowed to continue to operate, those big guys have to be a situational player. Case in point, Nico Johnson probably played 30 percent of all snaps his senior year but is starting in the NFL anyway.

trenda · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

Not sure if it was inexperience, coaching or some combination of both; but the false start calls on our OL this year was way out of control. As a team, our OL was called for 24 false starts (9 on our starting LG and LT). Basically two per game. Call it being spoiled over the past few years if you want; but that's a fundamental I'd love to see corrected.

russtang · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

JessN said:
1. Attitudes: This one is completely within Saban's control. If the players aren't buying in, cut them. The advent of APR has made this more difficult than it used to be but at some point you have to prioritize. Alabama has done such a good job with its academic program recently that it can afford some hit to APR total score, anyway. I realize UA likes to brag about where it places among SEC teams but APR doesn't win crystal trophies. There are guys who are on their sixth and seventh chances right now. That's probably too many.

2. Staff: I wasn't particularly impressed with Doug Nussmeier's playcalling this year but playcalling is hard to evaluate. For instance, Derrick Henry's last touchdown Thursday saved a terrible playcalling sequence for that drive. On top of that, Henry telegraphed the play by lining up almost 5 yards too far outside. He was fortunate the OU defender assigned to him was badly gassed and got himself out of position as well, plus the free safety lost inside contain. So you have a score, but it was sort of Keystone Kop-ish in the way it unfolded. By definition, the drive was successful, even though it was successful in spite of itself. For the season, Alabama completely ignored its TE/H combo, and was too predictable otherwise. This will have to change next year out of necessity, as there will be no NFL QB there to dig bad decisions out. There were also some issues at WR and DB and some staff changes wouldn't surprise me.

3. No sacred cows. The best way to make players accountable to themselves is yank them when they lose focus. Bryant made a career of it -- color-coordinating the depth chart in practice by jersey color, etc. Too many times this year I've seen the same handful of players make some kind of total bonehead play only to be trotted right back out there because their backup wasn't "in the plan" for the week. I hate to call someone out by name, but I think one particular OLB would have learned a lot simply by spending a quarter watching Tim Williams or Ryan Anderson run in his spot. And if Williams or Anderson screwed up, I (as coach) would have turned to my starter and told him, "Too bad you weren't in there, you would probably have made that play. So his mistake is essentially on your head as well."

4. Change in LB recruiting philosophy. The DL is already being diversified; guys like D.J. Pettway, Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson aren't the stereotypical hulks most 3-4 teams use. The problem is, the LB corps is pretty much one-note. The best LB Alabama has, Mosley, is the physical outlier. Guys like Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams are better suited to DE. Reggie Ragland will play a big role next year but both he and DePriest are huge. So is Reuben Foster but Foster has better lateral mobility. Oddly enough I think the new model is -- on the top end -- a guy like Dillon Lee. There will always be a spot for the big MLB who can stick his nose in the pile, but if tempo offenses are allowed to continue to operate, those big guys have to be a situational player. Case in point, Nico Johnson probably played 30 percent of all snaps his senior year but is starting in the NFL anyway.

None of these are MAJOR changes but need to be addressed. The predictable play calling and misuse/no-use of the Hback/T-end MAY or may not require a change in OC and that would be the biggest change.

As you noted on the LB's, the "base" defense will have to be geared toward the HUNH teams and put in the runner stoppers as situational players.

Many of us think these are changes that need to be addressed but we will have to wait and see what CNS is willing to change.

bamaslaw · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

mittman said:
I personally do not want to change a thing. I believe our staff will be able to adjust better with less time for the faster paced schemes.

I am not panicking at all.

There were times last night that I was wishing we had Eryk Anders though.

I mentioned this to some people I was with last night - Anders would potentially be the least talented player on the field if he were on this team, but we'd be undefeated with him on it. As a group, I think we have too many of the same type of player on defense. I see that changing by February 5.

Chukker Veteran · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

I think it might be a plus for team unity and spirit if there aren't a bunch of Sexton-fed stories about where Saban will be coaching the next season.

I understand the intent of all that Saban/Texas press was to influence the University's administration to come up with a nice raise, but I can't help but wonder if all that drama had any effect on the team.

Alasippi · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

We need to reinstate the blitz and we need to get away from the "catch and read" philosophy we teach our D-linemen.
The only way to disrupt these hurry up offenses is to attack them. If you read them before reacting, it's too late.
sip

Bama-94-00 · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

The D needs simpler and/or faster calls to help against HUNH offenses.

JessN · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

Alasippi said:
We need to reinstate the blitz and we need to get away from the "catch and read" philosophy we teach our D-linemen.
The only way to disrupt these hurry up offenses is to attack them. If you read them before reacting, it's too late.
sip

Oddly enough, I'd rather Alabama not blitz than use some of the blitz schemes it currently uses. And make no mistake, Alabama blitzes a lot.

The 1st-and-30 conversion sequence, the middle screen to the RB, both of those came against a blitz call. The problem with Alabama's blitz calls stems from a lack of production from the outside of the blitz package. This is on the SLB/Jack combo most of all but also the weakside end. Pagan and Hubbard were scattershot. Devall never developed beyond where he finished 2012. We saw some of DePriest lining up at weakside end in this game and I bet we'll see more of that next year.

I remember mentioning in a preseason column about how the loss of D.J. Pettway was going to hurt, and it really did. Tim Williams showed some flashes but for whatever reason, didn't play much down the stretch. He needs to add a little weight, but Pettway coming back will help. Unfortunately, Pettway left here as a Jack but is coming back as a pure end.

CrimsonblakeII · Jan 3, 2014

Re: Things to Fix Before We Go After Wholesale Changes in Philisophy

JessN said:
Oddly enough, I'd rather Alabama not blitz than use some of the blitz schemes it currently uses. And make no mistake, Alabama blitzes a lot.

We do blitz a lot and I have no problems with blitzing at appropriate times. But it seemed that it was fairly obvious that Trevor Knight was having a "in the zone" type of game and that no blitz was going to throw him off his game. I actually wish we played a little more containment in the 2nd half rather than trying to force the game back in our favor.

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